The Demise Of Handwriting

[smiorgan]

The problem, I think, isn't that people don't write. It's that they rarely have anything to write about, or the skill. A brain with no thoughts in it will not be able to produce writing, regardless of the medium.

 

The percentage of the population who have something worthwhile to write about is the same as it ever was. The fraction of those people who actually get to write and publish is going up, owing to access to blogging etc.

 

Unfortunately the signal to noise ratio is worse for the same reason, which means you have to put a bit more effort in to sort the wheat from the chaff. Pretty handwriting is not a guarantee the content is worthwhile anyway.

 

 

I disagree, I think this generation produces at least as much material of value as the past. It surely produces more trash which will fall away in time, just as it ever has.

 

This, and...

 

Not much new in this debate. I'm just surprised it hasn't degenerated into a discussion about the use of apostrophes....... ;-)

 

I for one dislike generalisations about young people & how badly they compare to previous generations.

 

...this.

[maus930]

,I am beginning to despair -- the local; school boards are clamoring to remove handwriting from the curriculum -- and just last evening at a meeting, i asked an attendee to write down his Email address for our records and when i returned home I found it unreadable, similar to the original post comment it was a strange combination of cursive and printing.

 

 

hopeless.!! ,

[muskokabrian]

I have to say that the case of the disappearing handwriting was somewhat of a surprise to me that only came to my attention since tuning in to FPN a little over a year ago. Normally, I think I'm fairly aware of trends, particularly in culture or technology but this eluded me entirely. I had just assumed that handwriting was being taught and used in schools just as it was when I attended and I never considered that the opportunity to practice it had diminished.

 

I raised the issue with my wife who expressed surprise that I wasn't more aware of it. I also learned that she was almost illiterate when it came to handwriting herself. She told me that she never uses script and would have a hard time deciphering it. Imagine, married almost ten years and I never knew this about her. It never came up in our txt's, I suppose.

 

In the past couple of years I've increased my handwriting as my interest in both pens and writing on paper has increased. A few people have noticed my writing and I've received some compliments on my handwriting. I've never considered myself to have particularly beautiful writing, not compared to my mother or fathers or so many others but I see now that in comparison to so many people today, it is quite good. In fact, to many people it must look like a foreign script like Arabic does to me so they'd have no real idea how nice it is, other than that it looks exotic. I'm becoming a colorful person for wearing beige in a room full of people dressed in black.

 

This trend troubles me. Just because I can write it doesn't mean I can't type. I learned to touch type and can do so at over 60 wpm without looking at the keyboard. I think the act of handwriting is an important part of learning and brain development. I believe it stimulates creativity in writing the way that a computer cannot. I don't equate handwriting with the once taught Latin as an archaic tool useful only to specialists but I do fear it will become so. However, I'm teaching my kids to write script, if for no other reason so that they can read my journals

[RobertP]

Luckily my kids (21, 18, 15) were taught handwriting skills and all three still write almost exclusively with fountain pens (which is part of the reason I felt compelled to buy a new pen and re-visit the writing of years ago). But then they also send loads of SMS messages, and chat with friends online. They all sketch with pencils (and my younger daughter has started fountain pen sketching ), but also with digital graphic programs and graphic tablets.

 

I am proud that they use their PCs constructively and creatively and don't contribute to the tons and tons of drivel that is plastered on Facebook and Twitter and the like all the time. That is one of the real problems. People, who have nothing to say, still vomit out their 140 character nothingness at an alraming rate. And it seems to be the people with absolutely nothing to say are the ones who write the most!

 

There are a lot of fiercely bright and eloquent kids (and adults of course) out there these days, they are just not always visible in the mass of information-bites that are everywhere. As smiorgan said above "Unfortunately the signal to noise ratio is worse for the same reason, which means you have to put a bit more effort in to sort the wheat from the chaff." - I would say a lot of effort is sometimes required!

 

I don't see handwriting ever going away. Just like books will never go away and the paperless office will remain a myth.

 

But then again I also am not worried if writing is cursive or printed or whatever. If it is easily legible and at least vaguely pleasant to the eye, that's great. To be very honest, I find neatly printed writing much more therapeutic and relaxing to read. I love the beauty of skilled cursive writing and can read it fine, but it doesn't flow into my mind as easily - I find connecting with the content slightly harder.

 

Rob

 

P.S. Considering the subject in this thread... Why are we all typing and not posting tutuguans (as proposed by GClef)... Just a thought

Edited September 17, 2013 by RobertP

[Paddler]

Rob

 

P.S. Considering the subject in this thread... Why are we all typing and not posting tutuguans (as proposed by GClef)... Just a thought

Using an image to transmit text is probably the most inefficient method yet devised by man. You write the message with pen and paper, scan it using billions of electronic components, convert it to a computer file using hundreds of billions of electronic components, upload it to "the cloud" somewhere using the Internet and perhaps hundreds of servers and trillions of components, download it to the reader when called forth by the imbedded link, and display it on another computer using more hundreds of billions of components. Talk about pounding a thumbtack with a sledgehammer! Sending ASCII text via the Internet is bad enough, but a tutuguan compounds the inefficiency by orders of magnitude.

[RobertP]

Using an image to transmit text is probably the most inefficient method yet devised by man. You write the message with pen and paper, scan it using billions of electronic components, convert it to a computer file using hundreds of billions of electronic components, upload it to "the cloud" somewhere using the Internet and perhaps hundreds of servers and trillions of components, download it to the reader when called forth by the imbedded link, and display it on another computer using more hundreds of billions of components. Talk about pounding a thumbtack with a sledgehammer! Sending ASCII text via the Internet is bad enough, but a tutuguan compounds the inefficiency by orders of magnitude.

 

But then if we are using the billions of components anyway (instead of send handwritten letters by post), why not make those components earn their keep, by demanding more bytes to be transported and stored

[GClef]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/IMAG0211-1_zpsa861f8a2.jpg

[pajaro]

You have to take a picture of the writing and upload it. I use a keyboard to avoid these complications. I use a pen when the computer becomes too tedious.

 

I remain your lazy servant, and island of information,

 

PM

[Tom Aquinas]

 

I've never written to a big company....care to explain more?

Quite simple, write a private letter on your own business, and not use email or the telephone, rather simple concept really does not need explanation ?

Edited September 17, 2013 by Tom Aquinas

[inkstainedruth]

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/uploads/imgs/fpn_1379451900__handwritteh_post001.jpg

[Sinistral1]

 

I doth know not what a tutuguan ist, but if it alloweth a crafty serf such as I, barely able to reside amongst such learned fellows as yourselves, the pleasure of making craft and digital maneuvers in the same effort, then I heartedly proclaim my humble support!

Edited September 17, 2013 by Sinistral1

[GClef]

 

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/fpn_1379451900__handwritteh_post001-1_zps4a86ea3b.jpg

 

This is Ruth's post.

Edited September 17, 2013 by GClef

[EKE]

I had to relearn how to write cursively after thirty years of programming in the architecture profession. I was taught in grade school to write in a business-cursive hand (with fountain pens, no less!). Then I went to architecture school, and they forced us to block letter page, after page, after page. They stole my handwriting from me. But I managed to reclaim it a few years ago.

[proton007]

Quite simple, write a private letter on your own business, and not use email or the telephone, rather simple concept really does not need explanation ?

 

Obviously I understand what you mean by 'a handwritten letter'.

 

I was leaning more towards hearing any experience you've had with a company. In my experience, not everyone has good handwriting, and it can be hard to decipher a handwritten letter.

No wonder in the past there were special jobs for people who were trained to handle (read/write) all the communique.

[proton007]

http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/m496/gclef1114/Tutuguans/IMAG0211-1_zpsa861f8a2.jpg

 

Probably because not everyone here has a scanner nearby? Also depends on where they access FPN from (office/phone etc.).

[Tom Aquinas]

 

Obviously I understand what you mean by 'a handwritten letter'.

 

I was leaning more towards hearing any experience you've had with a company. In my experience, not everyone has good handwriting, and it can be hard to decipher a handwritten letter.

No wonder in the past there were special jobs for people who were trained to handle (read/write) all the communique.

As a senior lawyer I know how to write a legible letter.

[proton007]

As a senior lawyer I know how to write a legible letter.

 

You know, being a lawyer...maybe it was the content that prompted silence ?

Edited September 18, 2013 by proton007

[Tom Aquinas]

 

You know, being a lawyer...maybe it was the content that prompted silence ?

Possible, but one is about to find out the hard and expensive (for them ) way.

[GeneralSynopsis]

Using an image to transmit text is probably the most inefficient method yet devised by man. You write the message with pen and paper, scan it using billions of electronic components, convert it to a computer file using hundreds of billions of electronic components, upload it to "the cloud" somewhere using the Internet and perhaps hundreds of servers and trillions of components, download it to the reader when called forth by the imbedded link, and display it on another computer using more hundreds of billions of components. Talk about pounding a thumbtack with a sledgehammer! Sending ASCII text via the Internet is bad enough, but a tutuguan compounds the inefficiency by orders of magnitude.

 

Transmitting a scan of a hand written message will, if they wish to read it, really give the NSA and GCHQ a headache. Rather than just running thier analysis software on the text they will have to recognise that it may be text, then run a text recognition program over it and then do thier analysis. A process we can make more complicated by writing on note paper with a background image.

 

They will be faced with a rather difficult many word CAPTCHA

 

The object would be not to make your mail unreadable but to impose a very high overhead on the security services trawling through everyones corresponence.

 

.

Edited September 18, 2013 by GeneralSynopsis

[Paddler]

 

But then if we are using the billions of components anyway (instead of send handwritten letters by post), why not make those components earn their keep, by demanding more bytes to be transported and stored

You are not using the billions of components anyway. If you transmit text, all but a small fraction of them are idle and not producing wasted heat and taking up bandwidth.